A few words about Whey Protein

What does whey protein do?

It usually teams up with milk fat and lactose ;)

Disclaimer: I have no degree in nutrition, so take the below as sheer speculation from a autodidact.

A good friend of mine used to work for a cheese maker (many moons ago) - not making cheese, but making ethanol! This is where I got my first introduction to "Industrial Whey". You see, they figured out that the best way to get rid of the whey, was to spend millions of dollars constructing an ethanol distillery that could covert their whey, into pure booze.

I thought that was very cool and very strange. The last link is to an article that talks more about the history of whey.

Google results are always fun to look at:
"Whey protein weight gain" - 1,950,000 search results

"Whey protein weight loss" - 1,150,000 search results

The medical/nutritional research is much like the above, mixed and sometimes contradictory. It does seem clear that whey protein affects lower blood sugar through an increased insulin response:

http://www.ajcn.org/content/82/1/69.short

Not surprisingly, whey protein seems to mediate blood lipids, probably as a secondary result of mediated blood sugar:

http://www.ajcn.org/content/90/1/41.full.pdf+html

Here is a long article that explores quality difference of whey, based on processing. It also talks about (in my opinion) the most important factor in food and health: what was the diet of what you are eating. If you are enjoying pork chops, what did that pig eat? If soybeans, what kind of soil did those soybeans grow in?

http://www.ppssuccess.com/FoodforThought/ArticlesbyPaul/ArticlesbyPaulChekDetailPage/tabid/496/smid/2144/ArticleID/90/reftab/104/t/WHEY%20PRODUCTS%20%20Supplement%20or%20Detriment/Default.aspx

Okay, that's the fair even-handed analysis. Now I talk about what I think is wrong: whey protein seems to produce an insulin response, so do many proteins. The assumption is made that this is a good thing for blood sugar control - and it is, in the short-term. But producing a greater hormonal response has two effects: 1) short-term increase in whatever activities that hormone regulates, 2) down-regulation / decreased sensitivity in that same hormone system.

So whey may improve blood sugar for the measured meal its taken with, but an increased insulin secretion at lunch, means less insulin left for dinner (most insulin is produced during sleep - see also, connection between diabetes and sleep apnea).

If whey does produce an increased insulin response, then long-term whey supplementation probably results in some degree of insulin resistance. The end of that road is weight gain, insulin resistance resulting in higher plasma glucose and in turn higher plasma lipids.

But that is without chronic exercise - is the situation any better WITH chronic exercise?

Chronic exercise increases insulin sensitivity (upregulation of GLUT4 receptors) - maybe that's why its so popular in weight lifting? That would also help explain the google results above. Only one problem - increased insulin (whey), increased sensitivity of receptors (chronic exercise) and consumption of lots of whey, will likely result in a state of functional hypoglycemia. Insulin acts to free glycogen from the liver, the body's source of quick energy. Once those sources are consumed (quickly under these conditions), two main metabolic pathways remain: fat (gluconeogenesis) and protein (ketosis). Long term, this will result in decreased liver function, through exhausted hepatic enzymes and lower blood pH.

The only study I could find connecting whey protein to increased insulin sensitivity was with rats, the comparison being made between rats fed whey protein or rats fed BBQed kangaroo meat. The whey protein group were using less insulin than the red meat group, QED whey protein increases insulin sensitivity... pretty weak.

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/134/6/1454.full

Here is a few page rant that I think cuts closest to the truth:

http://www.vibrationalhealing.com/images/Whey_-_health_or_hype_.pdf

That's all my armchair speculation for now.

Ron Paul: Scientifically Proven Integrity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbNt_Me7n64&feature=related

A short clip of a body language expert analyzing Ron Paul. The host is rather shocked to hear that Ron Paul is 100% genuine - that he ACTUALLY BELIEVES the things that he is saying. To think, we can vote for someone with character.

It's bad that we need an expert to point out that he is the only trustworthy candidate.

It's sad that this quality means so little, to so many voters.

A bit simpler

1-2 cups Lentils/split peas

1 onion

tomatoes

several cloves of garlic

Bunch of parsley (Italian if available)

Turmeric, Cumin, Black Pepper, Chilis

Meat

Sop

Lentils cook quickly in water (25+ minutes), fry meat, onions and garlic, combine with spices and chopped tomato. Toss it all in with the finished lentils for a boss stew. Top liberally with chopped parsley.

It goes wonderfully in a sourdough bowl. Would Jacob have sold his pottage if it were in a sourdough bowl? I think not.

Mustard Seed Chili

This recipe is something of a kitchen sink, but here it goes:

The base:

1 cup of each - black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans

1/2 cup quinoa

0-1 pounds of ground beef (or your favorite meat)

"Vegetables":

1 sweet onion

1/2 purple onion

2 cloves - 1 head of garlic

chopped cilantro 1 - 2 bunches

chopped green: kale, mustard, or chard 1 pound or so fresh

Juice from one lime

Several to many tomatoes

1 or 2 bell peppers if available

Spices etc:

1 part: coriander, black pepper, red pepper, cayenne*

2 part: cumin, mustard, paprika, turmeric,

1/4 cup molasses (black strap if possible)

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

dash of soy

dash of honey

The Beans:

Dried beans are only better than canned if they are fresh; stale, old dried beans come out tasting worse than canned. Looks for large bulk food bins, the size of the bin is equivalent to the stores turnover estimate. Big bins usually means fresh beans. Otherwise seek out an ethnic market or if in dire straights, get canned beans and rinse them off.

Rinse and sort beans (I almost never do this) - bring briefly to a boil in water; remove from heat and let soak in the hot water for 90 minutes or so. Drain them and refill pot with water, 2 - 3 times the depth of the beans - more water if you want to make "wet" chili.

Bring the beans to a boil and simmer for 90 minutes or so.

While the beans are boiling, finely chop and sauté onions for 5 minutes or so, then reduce heat and add and cook for 10-20 more minutes to carmelize (time depends on the size of the pan and flame), your eyes will need to be the final judge. Add some of the "1 Part" spices to the onions while they cook and add some garlic near the end of the cooking. The less garlic and the longer you cook it, the less "garlicky" it will smell. For a bit of tang, hang on to a small amount of uncooked onions and garlic to add at the end, make sure these are very finely chopped.

The Greens:

The greens and bell peppers should be washed and chopped. If using green bell peppers, I would add most of them to the onions, as the greens have a sharper taste. If you want to get fancy, throw some part 2 spices in with the veggies and pan roast them in a large wok with no oil, just long enough to bring out the spice aroma and wilt the greens.

By now the beans are almost done and the onions and greens are definitely done. Add the quinoa in with the nearly done beans along with most of the part 2 spices. If there is a lot of water still in the pot, drain off until the beans are just covered. While the quinoa and beans are finishing, brown your meat with a little of all the spices, a bit of molasses and cider vinegar.

Once the meat is done, toss everything you have into the (hopefully not overflowing) chili pot and stir. It can be eaten immediately, or stewed on low for 30 or more minutes. The longer stewing will blend the flavors and make a wetter, soupier chili. Recommended if serving with a sop.

For a meatless recipe, double quinoa and add sautéd mushrooms.

Billy Joel - No Man's Land

From the Album River of Dreams - No Man's Land:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzoGHYdLUPo

Lyrics/commentary:

I've seen those big machines come rolling through the quiet pines

Large scale capital is used to develop unspoiled wilderness, but ultimately unproductive land. Is capital available from prudent savers orgovernment subsidized bankers?

Blue suits and bankers with their Volvos and their valentines

The ultimate boss – the consumer, his and her demands reflect their values – Volvo: safety, family, Swedish Engineering: http://www.sw-em.com/volvostack.jpg
This family is sustained by romantic love. The clothing and job indicate that money won’t be a pressing concern, assuming modest consumption…

Give us this day our daily discount outlet merchandise

Consumption as an end in itself, the very concept of an “outlet” implies a large, energy intensive infrastructure, is that efficient compared to other forms of communities? Also, these are non-durable goods – mostly crap.

Raise up a multiplex and we will make a sacrifice

They want a multi-screen theatre, to consume more of the culture, both a mirror and a feast. Yes, they will sacrifice, but what?

Now we're gonna get the big business

Maybe they’ll build a mall around here!

Now we're gonna get the real thing

Sharper Image!

Everybody's all excited about it

Residential and light commercial blight essentially kills everything that was there before and replaces it with enforced non-growth or even crazier, the intensive cultivation of ornamental grass. You can’t even eat it!

Who remembers when it all began - out here in No Man's Land

What were the values and intentions of these people that moved away from somewhere else and tried to for a community based on nothing in particular.

Before they passed the master plan - out here in No Man's Land

Master planned communities, boring and uninspired by design. Strictly functional and at the worst, demeaning. But all this grows from a mistake about the customer, this “resident” is not an animal, it’s a human and it needs a society a community.

Low supply and high demand - here in No Man's Land

That says it all, the ‘community’ just consumes. Rand might say, they’re all looters.

There ain't much work out here in our consumer power base

Economics based on consumption always end up making mistakes about job creation. Saving is noted valued, capital accumulation is nil, as is investment. Yet they ask, why no jobs?

No major industry, just miles and miles of parking space

What about minor industry? There is no productive labor, just services

This morning's paper says our neighbor's in a cocaine bust

The community is starting to reap, black market employment flourishes.

Lots more to read about Lolita and suburban lust

Symptoms decried, causes denied. The social impact of non-community.

Now we're gonna get the whole story

Truth seems accessible only because it is assumed. The media outlets, the opinions of others are substituted for thinking and debating.

Now we're gonna be in prime time

Everybody's all excited about it

The love of the thing, the symbol, becomes an end itself - the cultural itself demands worship.

Who remembers when it all began - out here in No Man's Land

We've just begun to understand - out here in No Man's Land

The cracks in the edifice are begining to show, only now are a few starting to think of how they came to such an end.

Low supply and high demand - here in No Man's Land

I see these children with their boredom and their vacant stares

God help us all if we're to blame for their unanswered prayers

Education becomes as formulaic and one-size-fits-all as the roads and retail stores. The next generation of this community is experiencing spiritual and emotional death, they would be the first generation to be outdone by their parents.

They roll the sidewalks up at night this place goes underground

Thanks to the Condo Kings there's cable now in Zombietown

More and more of society rebels against the oppression of non-ideas and sterilized lives. A social black market is just as alive as the drug trade. Whatever this Zombietown is - people are fleeing it, in any way they can. Others can't get enough:

Now we're gonna get the closed circuit

Now we're gonna get the Top 40

Now we're gonna get the sports franchise

Now we're gonna get the major attractions

Financial, cultural and spiritual servitude - grasping at the wind.

Who remembers when it all began - out here in No Man's Land

Before the whole world was in our hands - out here in No Man's Land

Before the banners and the marching bands - out here in No Man's Land

Low supply and high demand - here in No Man's Land

This "community" probably has few voluntary social institutions. Lives are lived as the houses are build, separate and indistinguishable. No one remembers, because there is nothing to remember. History records events of human significance, all they can muster are symbols, that signify nothing.

The Hunger Games

What a wonderful set of books and so very timely. My friend Andy summed up the emotional feel of the books quite well:
I did not enjoy a diet of one bitter pill after another, and felt somewhat cheated that all the tension only ever paid off with misery and more tension.

See, the games are quite horrifying and creatively so. 'Chosen' children from each district battle to the death, in an arena designed to enhance the excitement, because the entire affair is televised! Each book shows suceessively deeper human suffering, through the eyes of children. A natural reaction is to ask - why? Why, within the narrative, why to the question of evil in the world, why even read these depressing series of books? Well every tragedy must address the problem pain and the problem of evil. But didn’t we get enough of that in school? Andy again:
We didn't need to read tragedies in English class. We already had an entire class dedicated to tragedy and suffering. It was called "History".

I wholly agree and remember the many hours of forced reading in school. I am convinced now, that it was to make us hate literature :(

I think the “why” in this book is quite telling. Specifically, what kind of society heaps praise on such a horrifying spectacle? See, I don’t think the books are about the games, rather the games are the emotional hook, to interest you in the context – the society that produces the games.
The setting is a distopian America, where the "Federal" government exerts near complete control over the "districts" - each district specializes in what it produces and the majority of the output is taken and redistributed by the central government. Personal liberties are few, productive capital is virtually non-existant. As the series progresses, more of the economy and political structure of the country is revealed. The "redistribution" seems to mean that much of the goods produced in districts, end up in the capital, while the districts are left in various stages of near starvation and squalor. The only real prosperity is in government work (which a couple of the districts and many individuals have managed) or, of course, the lucky chance of winning the Hunger Games.

Ah yes, lest we forget the stated reason for the games: to punish the districts for rebellion. Not to mention, entertainment for the people of the Capital!
What is wrong with this society ends in poverty - and that always begins with property. It is not clear if the Capital owns everything, but they exercise direct control over seemingly everyone and everything. Suffice to say, it is a command/control economy, run by a dictator (President Snow). Without robust property rights, individuals make little improvements in the land (other than the slave masters command) and little capital is accumulated. That puts the breaks on any real economic growth. All this coupled with the powerful exploitation of the districts - we should not be surprised that everyone is hungry. Central planning and malinvestment that follows will always produce shortages. Price, is simply the most efficient tool for achieving highest marginal utility for scarce resources. But of course, that is a “free market” price.

These novels are half observation, half warning. To what extent does this dystopia already exist?
Increasingly the problems of our country are at root, the results of central planning and centralized administration. Finance, education, agriculture, healthcare, transportation, media – all in a crisis of having to sell a homogenous product, to a non-homogenous customer.

The poorest districts produce agriculture and coal – if they had property rights, those would be the richest districts. They produce energy for people and energy for machines, literally, the motive power behind all development. If you had to guess about the United States today, would you guess that the coal mining and agricultural areas were the most wealthy?

These books are an innoculation, against the tide of cultural force that says: "obey - even in the face of abject failure." Though I wouldn't force it on youngsters, though that would be the hieght of irony.

King Rabbit

The first round of rabbit stew came out all right... I'm going to run a few iterations before posting a recipe (cloves were a mistake).

In addition to being tender and juicy, it turns out rabbit is quite nutritious. About one small cottontail will yield your daily requirement of:

Omega 3, Omega 6, Niacin, Phosphorus, all 9 essential amino acids and 3x the daily requirement of B12.

Mineral content is equally ridiculous: Iron (83%) Phosphorus (72%) Selenium (65%) Zinc (47%) Potassium (29%) Copper (26%) Magnesium (23%).

A furry, bioavailable multivitamin.

I speculate this to be a result of their ability to get many of the nutrients produced by GI bacteria. Rabbits are too small for the complex digestive system of larger ruminates (cows, sheep). Instead, after they wash and rinse - they repeat. After sufficient nutrition is extracted, there is a 'final rinse'. So actually, the rabbit gut is quite complex in its own way.

But alas, it is no miracle food. In fact, subsisting on solely rabbit has startling consequences.

Eating lean meat exclusively will make you quite ill and if continued, will make you quite dead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation

Thankfully, all it takes is a bit of fat and/or carbohydrates. I'll continue to mix with liberal amounts of lentils, yogurt, rice and whatever spices happen to be in abundance. Speaking of abundance, North America has about 50% of the worlds supply of rabbits (this is pretty typical of most valuable resources). I propose we let the exploitation begin.

Last minute 'interesting' facts about rabbits:

1) They cannot physically vomit.

2) Cottontails don't live in burrows, rather in above-ground nests.

3) 1946 New Zealand had over 100 rabbit boards whose top priority was to kill rabbits, 'almost regardless of cost'

4) Rabbits were declassified as Rodentia in 1912, now they're in it with the pikas.

5) There is a war being wages for, and against rabbits. The weapons: genetically modified viruses.
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s934318.htm

References:

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/omega-3-000316.htm

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/lamb-veal-and-game-products/4650/2

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/digestibility.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit